What the new subsection does
§ 12-1.3-2(c), added by the 2026 act: "[n]otwithstanding § 12-1.3-1(3) ('first offender'), any person who has been convicted of more than one felony, but fewer than five (5) felonies, and has not been convicted of a crime of violence, or other prohibited offenses, may file a motion for the expungement of any or all of those felonies."
So the count is two, three, or four. Five or more is still outside the statute.
Fifteen years, twice over
§ 12-1.3-2(h) sets the waiting period: fifteen years "from the date of the completion of their last sentence" — the most recent one, not the oldest.
§ 12-1.3-3(b)(1)(iv) adds a separate fifteen-year clean period: in the fifteen years before you file you must not have been convicted or arrested for any felony or misdemeanor, with no criminal proceedings pending, and you must have exhibited good character.
Both have to be satisfied. Someone whose last sentence closed three years ago has not met the first even if nothing has happened since.
The one-attempt rule — read this before you choose which to file on
The subsection ends with a sentence that is easy to miss and expensive to miss: "Said person shall not be eligible to expunge the remainder of felony offenses otherwise not prohibited after a successful expungement subject to other provisions of this section."
You get one run at this. If you move on one felony and the court grants it, the others stay. Deciding which convictions to include is the single most consequential choice on this path, and it is not one to make by instinct.
Two exclusion lists now, not one
The same act created a second category — "other prohibited offenses" in § 12-1.3-1(6) — which is separate from crimes of violence and closes this path just as firmly. It includes assaults on the elderly, on people with severe impairments and on children causing serious bodily injury; cruelty to or neglect of a child; Brendan's Law; child endangerment; an offense against a victim who is a minor; every weapons offense in chapter 47 of title 11; the entire human trafficking chapter; failing to stop after an accident causing personal injury; driving so as to endanger resulting in death; and DUI resulting in death.
On top of that, § 12-1.3-2(c) separately excludes DUI under § 31-27-2, chemical-test refusal under § 31-27-2.1, and domestic offenses under chapter 29 of title 12.
The grant is still discretionary — and the act said more about that too
The 2026 amendment also expanded § 12-1.3-3(b)(2). The court must still find rehabilitation and that expungement is consistent with the public interest, but the statute now tells the judge they "may consider the person's background, employment, community ties and involvement in their community and other relevant considerations," that "[n]o one factor ... shall be determinative," and that the judge may consider "overall rehabilitative progress since their conviction."
That is a hearing you prepare for, not one you show up to.
If you were told no before last summer
Get the question asked again. The answer changed, the published General Laws compilation has been slow to catch up, and a great many people are walking around with a correct answer to a question that is no longer the law.
